Food dispensers are common in the art and are typically employed to dispense various forms of food products in a convenient, efficient, and economic manner. Food dispensers are present in virtually every environment involving the serving or storing of a food product, including restaurants, convenient stores, and at various entertainment venues. Their ability to conveniently store and dispense a specific amount of a food product upon demand is what makes food dispensers so attractive. Indeed, many food products or their packaging have been modified in order that the food product might more easily be served from a dispenser.
A common problem in the food service industry, particularly restaurants and other similar merchant venues, is the need to continuously balance food production with that of food consumption by its patrons. If a provided food portion is too large there is waste, both of the food and economic in terms of expenditures. On the other hand, if the provided portion is too small the chance for customer dissatisfaction is increased. Compounding the problem is the fact that food products are, by their nature, degradable. Purchasing too much of a food product and not having the customers to purchase and consume it can be devastating to a merchant. Since many merchants in the food service industry purchase their food products in bulk, portioning the food product becomes critical. Where they can, merchant utilize food product dispensers to inject a certain amount of control over the handling and serving of their food products. Indeed, one of the primary advantages of a food dispenser is its ability to provide added control over the portioning of a food product over manual portioning, especially from a bulk container. Indeed, a food dispenser is capable of extruding, spraying, or feeding out a food substance in a desired quantity or for a desired time, whereas manual portioning involves a great deal of inconsistencies from one portion to another and is very subjective.
Dispensable food products generally fall into three broad categories: 1) liquid food products, 2) dry food products, and 3) solid food products, obviously with the type of food dispenser used depending upon the type of food product to be dispensed. The term “solid” in the context of solid food products refers to those types of food products that are not a pure solid in the literal sense as one having rigid characteristics. Instead, a solid food product may be considered more like a semi-solid, meaning that the food product comprises a degree of pliable characteristics. Numerous food substances fall within this “solid” category, each having different degrees of pliability, including mashed potatoes, butter, salads of various varieties (e.g., potato or macaroni salad), and desserts, such as soft ice cream, sherbert, and other solid sweets.
Despite the ability to dispense many solid food products there is one particular food product that has proven unworkable to dispense—prefrozen hard ice cream. While soft ice cream dispensers have been in use for years, there has not been a sufficient system devised that can effectively dispense hard ice cream. As such, merchants are forced to resort to manual portioning and serving of this popular and frequently served dessert, thus being subject to the many deficiencies or shortcomings that are associated with the manual serving of any food product, especially one stored in bulk. Indeed, any individual who has ever manually served hard ice cream is familiar with this method. Basically, it involves removing the frozen hard ice cream container from the freezer and placing it in a holding bin of some sort. To remove a portion of the hard ice cream, the individual must jam some type of object into the ice cream and exert a considerable amount of force to break away and lift a portion of the hard ice cream from the container, wherein it is then placed onto a serving dish or onto a cone. A convenient tool for scooping hard ice cream from its container in this fashion is commonly known as an ice cream scoop.
A typical ice cream scoop consists of a hemispherical head constructed of rigid material having generally acute edges allowing it to be more easily physically forced into and through the hard ice cream so as to dig out a corresponding scoop-shaped portion of ice cream. Depending upon the consistency, the density, and the frozen temperature of the ice cream, various degrees of manual forces will be needed in order to force the ice cream scoop into and through the ice cream. Some forms of ice cream scoops even include a special curved scraper that, when actuated, traces the surface of the scoop to physically scrape the ice cream free from the inside surface of the scoop and letting the individual dispose of the retrieved ice cream.
There are numerous problems associated with the manual method of scooping or dispensing hard ice cream. These problems are particularly magnified for the commercial ice cream merchant who specializes in serving hard ice cream on a frequent basis to his customers and who provides a wide variety of flavors from which his customers may choose. Such a vendor typically maintains at least one large horizontal freezer compartment inside of which the various flavors of hard ice cream are kept in their respective containers. When a customer desires a particular flavor, the merchant must locate this flavor within his freezer compartment, open the door of the freezer (if the door is not already open), bend over, and manually scoop the desired flavor of ice cream from its container where it may then be served in the desired manner. As manual scooping of the ice cream is required, there must be sufficient space to maneuver the ice cream scoop (or other similar removal device). Manually scooping of hard ice cream does not allow the user to simply reach in and vertically retrieve a scoop of ice cream. Instead, there is often required a great amount of lateral pushing or pulling of the ice cream scoop to force the ice cream scoop through the hard ice cream to obtain an adequate quantity of ice cream. Therefore, for the commercial merchant, all of the containers of the various flavors of ice cream are positioned in open cabinets, evenly spaced, and with the lids of the containers completely removed, thus providing the most accessibility. Moreover, manual serving is very inefficient as it takes time and effort to obtain a single scoop of ice cream.
A significant problem associated with manual serving of hard ice cream is that it is labor intensive, especially if done on a frequent basis. Indeed, manual scooping of ice cream can cause serious fatigue to an individual as a result of the constant leaning or bending over, and physical exertion. This constant bending over can adversely affect the back, leg, and arm muscles of the individual. The problem is exacerbated if the ice cream is extremely hard. The net result is that the productivity of the ice cream scooper drops off rapidly.
As briefly discussed above, another problem associated with the manual serving of hard ice cream is portioning to maintain an appropriate balance between product purchase and product consumption. Because manual serving is so subjective, the product amount in one scoop may significantly vary from that in another scoop and from employee to employee. Thus, it requires owners and managers to be cognizant of the scoops that are being served by each employee. If the merchant is desirous to maintain as even a balance as possible between product purchased and product served, a minimum amount of training is required for each employee, as well as continued oversight.
Maintaining sanitary conditions is also a problem associated with the manual scooping of hard ice cream. It is not uncommon to find the same ice cream scoop being used by several different employees in several different containers of ice cream. In addition, as the containers are fully open, various foreign objects (e.g., hair, dust, clothing, etc.) may find their way into the containers. Still further, it is not uncommon for the hands or portion of the arms of the individual to come in contact with the ice cream. All of these, and others, contribute to unsanitary and unsightly conditions.
From an energy standpoint, the cabinets housing the open containers of ice cream are often left open or are at least very frequently opened, thus causing the freezer within the cabinet to work much harder to maintain the temperature necessary to keep the ice cream in a properly frozen state. Because of often extreme temperature fluctuations, the consistency of the ice cream through the container becomes disrupted. This can lead to oxidation of the ice cream along the top and edges of the container requiring these portions to be discarded and wasted.
In light of the above-identified problems, there has been a long felt need for a suitable hard ice cream dispenser capable of quickly, efficiently, and sanitarily, dispensing a controlled unit of hard ice cream to a customer, thus alleviating many, if not all, of the problems discussed above. Efforts have tried and failed. Unlike soft ice cream dispensers that have been largely successful in dispensing soft ice cream, hard ice cream is a much different product. The need for such dispenser is even more apparent when considering, to many, hard ice cream is a much more preferred product. Indeed, hard ice cream is generally of a superior quality and is available in a much broader spectrum of flavors. However, soft ice cream, because of its consistency and because it falls under the category of a “soft” food product, is easily dispensable, thus contributing to its popularity and accessibility to consumers.
To dispense hard ice cream, several factors must be considered. First, the temperature of the ice cream product is important. Because of the consistency of hard ice cream from flavor to flavor and/or from type to type, there may be a significant temperature differential existing between the product temperature and the ambient temperature in the freezer in which the ice cream is stored. In order to obtain a proper flow of hard ice cream, while maintaining a consistent and appropriately served product, the product temperature must be monitored and controlled for each different flavor and/or type, not to exceed a given pre-determined and identified range. Therefore, it becomes important to not only provide a temperature monitoring device for the ambient freezer, but also one capable of monitoring the product temperature. The second factor to consider is product overrun. Overrun may be defined as the percentage or amount of air present within the ice cream and is important as it contributes to the compressibility of the product and also to the taste of the ice cream. Without a percentage of air, the ice cream would not be as palatable. In addition, a higher percentage of air means less product and more profit as ice cream is sold by the volume and not the weight. As such, the overrun amount can vary from ice cream to ice cream and from flavor to flavor. From the overrun amount, the percentage of air may be calculated. Overrun divided by 2 equals the percentage of air present within the product. For example, if an ice cream comprises 80% overrun, there is 40% air and 60% product. An overrun of 120% equals 60% air, 40% product. As can be seen, the higher the overrun, the more air in the product. The third item to consider is the viscosity of the ice cream product. Viscosity is ingredient dependent and indicates a measure of the degree to which the ice cream resists flow under an applied force. For example, yogurt is less viscous than hard ice cream, thus flowing easier under pressure.
Prior related hard ice cream dispensers have failed for several reasons. First, prior related hard ice cream dispensers failed to support the ice cream container both laterally and along its longitudinal axis. As the plunger would travel through the ice cream container the pressure exerted by the plunger on the paper walls of the ice cream container would cause the walls to fail. In addition, the scoop used to dispense the ice cream was operated outside the nozzle, thus the ice cream had to travel about a tube or other enclosure from the nozzle into the scoop. This created difficulty in achieving consistent and even dispensing as often times the scoop would not fill completely or properly.